The trillion-dollar markets for futures, swaps, commodity options, and related derivatives are extremely important to the global economy because, among other things, they influence the prices that people pay for everything from heating oil and bread to the interest rates connected to mortgages...

This study aims to explain causal relationships between the two dramatic cycles observed in the U.S. during the recent financial crisis - the mortgage credit cycle and the home price cycle. In the viewpoint of mortgage lending, the main demand-side driver for the observed credit concentration...